The Delusion of Five Dates
by bahjoosaeyo
Summary: Professor Scorpius is delighted to be stuck in a castle with Professor Rose for a whole year. Unfortunately Rose doesn't feel the same way. He attempts to change her opinion by stealing, pranking and gathering delinquent students on his side. Will that be enough to get her attention or will it be the tales of their five mysterious dates that finally gets the girl? Oneshot!


AN: Those of you that have been reading Professors, there's going to be repeat material. This was the original oneshot that inspired the multi-chap. I've pretty much abandoned the multi-chap, but here's the original that inspired it. If I get re-inspired I might take up the long multi-chap again. If you haven't read the multi-chap, don't worry. You'll still be able to understand this oneshot just fine. ^^

**Every time there is a break (-) it means that there is a switch in point of view! **

* * *

The Delusion of Five Dates

I marched through the hallway to barge into Professor Scorpius Malfoy's office. My attention was momentarily caught by something on the wall of his office. _Surely it couldn't be_, I thought, but when I leaned closer to look I found that sure enough, like the pretentious dick that he was, there was a new picture of him with three of his oh-so-treasured students laughing uproariously at Merlin knows what in a mint green frame. My mint green frame.

I jabbed my finger at the Scorpius in the picture and imagined what it would be like to poke his eyes. Sweet, I decided. Poking his stupid eyes out would be sweet for as everyone knows revenge is always sweet and I intended on making my revenge on Scorpius Malfoy as sweet as possible.

I turned from the picture to face the real life Scorpius, ahem excuse me _Professor_ Malfoy and found him sitting with an ever so smug look on his face on a deep purple chair. This particular chair had the perfect look of elegance and power and, I had to admit, it went well with the shock of blonde hair on his stupid, stupid arrogantly handsome face.

I stared at him. He stared back.

He slowly started smiling and that's when I lost it.

(-)

I could hear her pounding footsteps from my office, sitting in my recently acquired luxurious purple chair. I drew my face into an expressionless mask, as I got ready for the impending ball of redheaded fury, internally squealing in delight.

She exploded into my office and her attention was grabbed by a picture … oh, that's right, I had put up the picture of me and my three special students in that mint green frame only three days ago. I watched, trying to keep my emotionless expression, as she lifted up a finger and jabbed at someone (I assumed it was me) and surely at this point she was creating some sort of tortuous scenario for me in her head.

Her attention wasn't distracted for long for she soon whipped her head towards me, her red hair practically glowing in anger (although the glow could have been from the fire behind her). She held on without speaking for as long as she could but the minute I let out a little smile, it was game over.

As I stared at her beautiful mouth yelling profanities the students would be shocked to hear, I couldn't help but smile some more. For some reason this woman, this brilliant, but sometimes dangerously insane woman was utterly captivating to me. I tuned back into what she was saying when she tried to grab the mint green frame off the wall.

"And this!" she said as she took ahold of the frame, "This, I know, is definitely the same frame as the one formerly in my office. I should have known you'd taken it with the help of your three idiotic so-called students you bloody prick!" As she tried to pry the frame off the shelf, I thanked Merlin that Tim, the student on the far right of the picture had thought of securing the frame to the wall with Weasley's Will Still Be Stuck 'Till the End of Eternity Sticking Glue. As she muttered charms under her breath between profanities, I was even more glad that Bradion, the bloke next to Adam in the photo had thought of asking the Weasleys to modify the sticking glue to ensure that even someone who had as much knowledge of charms as Rose did couldn't charm the glue off.

Seven charms, two of which I'd never heard of, later and 11 creative ways expressed on how the best way to dismember my body, I intervened with a simple, helpful question, "Why Professor Weasley, do you need some help there?"

She turned around and smiled sweetly.

_Uh oh_, I thought, this means nothing but trouble. "Why Professor Malfoy, what a kind question. Yes, you can help me; you can help me by removing that stupid perfect arse of yours off my bloody chair."

I smiled back at her and stood up. She whispered _Wingardium Leviosa _to levitate the chair only to have it stay exactly where it was. She then proceeded to let out a quite feral scream and muttered a charm under her breath that made all the contents of the room not stuck with the sticking glue (the chair, the frame and the two vases in the corner) immediately rise up the ceiling and fall down into disarray.

"Goodbye Professor Malfoy," she said with as much malice as she could as she took her leave.

My personal effects were ruined and all my students' essays as well as my personal notes were floating down as she strode out of the room. It would take me more than an hour to sort my office out, as she must have very well known, but all I could do as I watched her slam the office door was smile. She had called my arse perfect.

(-)

The minute I closed the door, I let out a little pent up fury at being made an idiot and let out my anger by making little punches to the stone wall. The pain quickly brought back my senses and I marched more than quickly to my office as I nodded here and there to the various "Hello Professor Weasley"s from the more polite students.

Three students quickly brushed by me as if they were doing important business and had somewhere pressing to be. Even in my rush, I caught sight of the three miscreants and quickly halted to threaten them.

"Adam, Bradion, Tim," I said as icily as I could, "Don't think that I don't know the three of you were involved in some manner. Especially you, Adam, who wrote that enlightening essay on locking and unlocking charms." Adam winced slightly when I called him out. "I'll be seeing the three of you in my office." I quickly whooshed away with what I hoped was a dramatic flourish of my robe. I turned my head around slightly to see the impression that I made only to find the three boys shuffling after me.

"I didn't mean now, dammit!" I barked, while stumbling slightly due to turning too fast. Sigh, even if I had succeeded in being dramatic only seconds ago, I was sure to have ruined the effect by tripping over my damn robes. I turned around again and didn't look back, determined that this time, yes, _this time_, Professor Malfoy and his three delinquent students would learn their lessons.

When I reached the office, the only thought I had was that it was high time for a good complaint, and I knew the perfect person who would listen to my complaints with minimum judgment. Well, she'd certainly judge, but she'd keep my complaints in the family.

I shoved my head in my fireplace and threw floo powder as I shouted, "Lily's!" I blinked as I adjusted to my setting and sure enough, Lily's face popped into my view.

"Here to complain? Again?" she asked. I nodded vigorously. "Okay wait. My arse started hurting last time. I don't know why my floors are so hard... let me go get a cushion and some food." I waited for her to finish up in the kitchen and watched hungrily as she returned with some cookies, milk, and a plush cushion. She looked straight at me and said, "Shoot."

"So I went looking for my necklace, you know my gold necklace that Ares got me for our first month anniversary? Actually now that I think about it, I never got to look for the necklace because I got distracted by a picture of the smug bastard and his three minions in my mint green frame- the one that had the picture of all of us when we went skiing in the Alps that one time. I mean, it's not as if I can go to the Headmistress with all these blatant acts of robbery. It would be horrible to admit that not only can I not sufficiently punish three students, but I also can't manage to have cordial relations with one of the other professors! Oh why oh why in bloody hell did he have to come and teach at this school? Can't he go teach at Beauxbaton or freeze his balls off in Durmstrang? AUGHHHHH!" I let out a frustrated scream.

(-)

The next day at breakfast, I slid into my place at the Professors' table, right next to an immaculately dressed Rose Weasley.

"Hello Professor Weasley, sleep well?" I asked politely as I nodded in her general direction.

"Perfectly pleasantly, considering the fact that _all of my pillows disappeared_."

"Sounds uncomfortable."

"Which is why it took me a while to fall asleep," she said as she whipped her face towards mine and jabbed at the dark circles under her eyes.

"If you couldn't sleep, why didn't you come join me in my Midnight Dinner Professor's Party?"

"Because the last time I fell for that elegant invitation that claimed it was an honored professor tradition, it wound up being just me and you in the kitchens with every other professor conveniently missing to which you chalked up to the flu," she muttered furiously through clenched teeth.

"I admit that it was a horrible place for a seventh date, but this is Hogwarts, the school in the middle of nowhere with apparition banned and flooing only allowed with written permission of the Headmistress. I didn't exactly want to alert the Headmistress that you and I would be making googly eyes at each other the entire night and I know how much you enjoy low key dinners." I smiled sweetly at my sweet only to have her scowl in return.

"Sixth date?! And when," she said with inquisitive anger, "did we have dates one through five?"

"Date one was when we were but wee little seventh years. We rode together in one room on the train ride over, just the two of us with a minor interruption in between. I recall you wearing your uniform. Now that I think about it, your hand brushed over mine while riding together, in a much too obvious signal for me to hold your hand, only I never realized that as I was a stupid little seventh year who knew naught of the ways of love and women."

"Still as stupid as you were then," I heard her mutter under her breath, _just_ loud enough to ensure that I would hear the insult and _just _quietly enough to protest that I wasn't meant to have heard the insult if I probed her about it.

I chose to probe. "I'm sorry?" I asked with an innocent face, "Did you say something?"

She took a swig from her glass of pumpkin cocktail (the only way Hogwarts professors knew how to start out the day) and replied, "I was only saying that I recall you having a couple of girlfriends in sixth year so it's false to claim that you 'knew naught' of love. More importantly, I did not 'brush my hand over yours' to signal that I wanted to hold your puny hands."

_Puny?_ I thought with a shock as I stared at my hands under the table. Were they really puny? I had always thought that my hands were manly and firm. Did she truly think my hands were puny or was that an insult she threw in purely to throw me into frenzy? If she thought my hands were puny then didn't that mean that she would think _other_ parts of my body were puny? Especially parts of the body that were supposed to correlate to the size of my hands?

"We were only in a room together because we were bloody Heads together, you great big dunce. I wasn't allowed to sit with anyone else." She sighed in exasperation and bent over her plate again to cut her pancakes.

"Our second date," I began. Rose let out a sigh and turned her head to face me again and I continued, "Our second date, was the day that the Headmistress told us that we had earned our kitchen privileges and we both ran into each other that very night in the kitchens. You gave me a chocolate cupcake and told me to enjoy it. Afterwards, you fluttered off in feminine embarrassment and we wouldn't be alone together until our third date."

Rose let out a laugh and snorted in disbelief until she realized the students nearby were staring at her. She quickly stopped laughing, lowered her voice and said, "It surprises me just how much you can distort the truth. I recall a very different version of our supposed 'second date.' I remember you coming into the kitchens, saucily suggesting that 'we make this a date' and I recall my answer being a chocolate cupcake chucked at your face with the _sarcastic_ remark to 'enjoy.'" She huffed, her cheeks getting pinker with each word. "And I didn't _flutter off_ in feminine embarrassment, you ninny, I stormed off because I didn't want to look at your git face anymore. Now, shut up. We're the only professors that openly bicker in public; I'd love to start off the day with having at least _some_ respect from my students."

(-)

It took all my self-control not to berate him further, but the last statement I had made was true. I couldn't be seen fighting with him in public anymore, student were getting the wrong idea and students would mockingly yell "ooo" anytime Scorpius, sorry, Professor Malfoy stuck his nosy head into my classroom. I looked down at my barely touched breakfast; I had to admit that another reason why I had stopped arguing was to settle the argument my stomach was having with my brain. I was starving and the steaming hot plate of breakfast foods was more tempting than chucking darts of insults into the hollow head of Professor Malfoy.

Unfortunately, life proved to be unkind, again (for it was life that had saddled me with someone as annoying as Scorpius Malfoy in the first place) and the bells rung signaling that I had best be on my merry way to my first class of the day, joint Slytherin-Gryffindor Advanced Charms with seventh years.

While the students practiced an organizing charm, I leaned back into my wooden chair to rest. The lack of pillows last night had truly made it difficult to sleep last night and I was feeling the repercussions of sleeping far too little. I leaned back in my chair to close my eyes for just a second when I heard the door open and all my students began greeting the intruder with genuine happiness.

I knew instantly who it was that could incite such a response from seventh years who were usually too wrapped up in their own drama and I groaned internally. Scorpius Malfoy, sorry, Professor Malfoy had always been charming. Even I admitted that the man could charm a hippogriff into saying with its own mouth that it was an ugly beast. Yes, I pondered, so charming that on some lonely nights in this forsaken castle, miles away from the rest of the wizarding public, I wondered what it would be like to actually accept a dinner request from him. I opened my eyes and banished my thoughts as he strode up to me, as if owning the room.

"What are you doing in _my _classroom?" I demanded as I rose up from my chair. I wouldn't let him act as if he had the right to intrude in the middle of my lessons.

"I asked Madam Pomfrey for a restoring potion for you. I thought you'd need it since you couldn't sleep last night." He took my hand into his, opened it up, and placed the small bottle into my hand.

I looked down at the bottle and was taken a bit aback. "If you weren't the cause of my sleeplessness last night, it would make this gesture genuinely kind," I quipped. Though I was surprised by his thoughtfulness, I couldn't let go of the fact that I knew that he was the reason behind the missing pillows.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize what this statement sounded like, especially what it would sound like to a bunch of randy, horny seventh years who had gone silent during our conversation and the entire room lifted up into cat calls and wolf whistles.

The idiot had the nerve to flash a smile and wink at the hooting crowd of students and quickly walked away. I chugged the potion in my hand, waited for a few seconds to feel the effects, then turned to my students and challenged my inner Professor Snape, daring them to let out another peep.

"The next student to make any inappropriate noises or comments, I promise you I will personally go to your dorm and raze it to see if you've properly learned the organizing charm." I glared around the room and rested my eyes on Bradion, Slytherin and Tim, Gryffindor, who were sitting at a table together.

(-)

"I swear, I thought she was about to turn us into stone 'cause she was glaring at us so hard," said Tim.

"That or her eyeballs were going to pop out of her head," added Bradion.

"Then Melissa, pure genius that she is, whispered just loud enough to hear to her partner, 'But he's got such a sexy arse doesn't he?'" said Tim.

I let out a laugh of triumph. "What did she do then?" I asked, eager to hear about Rose's reaction.

"She groaned to high hell and I think, though I can't be positive, she mouthed a couple of expletives," said Bradion.

Adam, who was sitting to my right, chuckled with me.

"But afterwards she called me and Bradion to the front and told us she wanted to see us in her office after dinner." Tim shoved his chin towards Adam and said, "You too."

"What?!" screeched Adam, "I didn't even do anything this time! I wasn't even bloody there to see the show!"

"Don't worry boys, I'll more than make up for it," I said as I rose up from my chair, "Thanks for letting me know what happened, I'm going to go down to the kitchens now to grab a bite to eat. I'm starving."

"Honestly," Tim said, "I'm a Gryffindor and she even frightens me. You sure you like her, Professor Malfoy?"

"Absolutely," I replied as we left the empty classroom. "Abso-bloody-fucking –lutely." I repeated under my breath.

As I walked through the hallway to the kitchens, I chuckled internally at the question that brave Tim had posed. Was I sure I liked her? No. Was I sure I loved her? Yes. It might seem impossible to love someone before even going on a proper date with her, but I was positive that this girl was the one for me.

It wasn't dramatic. I didn't suddenly decide that I was in love out of nowhere; I can't even pinpoint the exact time that I started developing feelings for her. Thinking back, I can remember being stuck with her on Prefect duty sixth year and slowly gaining respect for her. We'd have lively debates over trivial things like what was the better dessert, pies or cookies and some more intellectual ones like the latest advances in the healing industry. Occasionally we'd veer off into moral debates over the use of dementors in prisons or the classification of "monster" for vampires and werewolves. Sure, our debates were fueled with an intensity that matched our mutual dislike for each other, but during those debates, we didn't hone in on targeting each other's weak spots. Instead, we roamed each other's minds and challenged each other to read more intellectual journals or think differently about certain positions that we had held for years.

Turning the corner towards the kitchens, I thought back with a laugh to how utterly stupid I had been. I had been dating a girl on and off second semester of sixth year when I heard that Rose was going to Hogsmead with Davis, a seventh year. I remember being an utter prick while questioning her about it our next patrol, not realizing that what I was feeling was jealousy. As I reached the fruit basket painting and reached to tickle the pear, I shook my head in amazement at the fact that I had been so very dunce as a student.

I walked into the kitchens, asked Pippy for a steaming hot plate of whatever and a pumpkin cocktail with a douse of pepper up potion. She ushered me towards the table and squeaked, "Professor Weasley! Pippy found Professor Malfoy here. Professor Malfoy will sit with Professor Weasley and Pippy will bring food."

Professor Weasley was here? I couldn't have planned it any better.

Rose lifted her head up from the table to look at mine, scowled and put her head back down on the table. As I took a seat and Pippy left, she muttered, "I'm too hungry to even talk to you right now so do me a favor- don't be annoying."

"If you're too hungry to talk, then I'll talk for you. I never got to finish the story about our dates this morning. I must thank you for conveniently meeting me here so I could finish." She let out a groan and her stomach answered her with a rumble of its own.

"Our third date was when we went to the graduation ball together and danced in each other's arms. You were wearing a muted pink and white dress that felt like the lightest, softest thing on earth when I placed my hand over it. We danced, just the two of us as the entire crowd of students stared on, holding their breaths at the sight of the two of us dancing our dance of love. We spent the majority of our night together," I continued, "as professor after professor congratulated the two of us on everything we'd achieved. We sat side by side at the dinner table and we shared dessert- a chocolate cupcake." I grinned at Rose even though she couldn't see me with her head down. I remember asking the house elves as a special favor to serve chocolate cupcakes for dessert to only me and Rose at the graduation ball; everyone else had vanilla.

Pippy brought over our drinks and food, I leaned over to look at Rose's drink and noticed that she had ordered the same stiff drink as me. She said nothing as she raised her head and proceeded to stuff her face with food. She was a monstrous eater, just another reason why I loved her.

(-)

I stuffed my face with chocolate and blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausages, chugging it all down with a doubly potent pumpkin cocktail. It's always been a pride to my father and a horror to my mother that I inherited my father's enormous appetite. I ate and ate and pretended to not notice Scorpius' smoldering stare straight at me when all I could think about was our supposed 'third date.'

This was by far the least skewed story, but it was certainly seen through a rose coloured glass. I remembered the mandatory Head student dance, his hand pressed against my waist and the other clasping mine. We had practiced with the Headmistress for weeks beforehand, ensuring that we wouldn't make fools of ourselves for the opening dance. The other students weren't allowed to participate so all they could do was observe as the two of us circled around the dance floor. Even though Scorpius wasn't the best looking student in the school, let alone in seventh year, I had to admit that I was proud to be on his arm for that fleeting moment. When I glimpsed a picture of the two of us in the mirror, my red hair paired with his shock of blond, I had to admit we complimented each other.

As I took another gulp of the pumpkin cocktail, I couldn't help but steal a quick look at his face and saw that he was still staring at me. I darted my eyes back down to the plate and my memory took me back to the graduation ball when he had looked at me with that same intensive smolder.

I had wondered about the cupcakes at dinner. I noticed that we were the only ones served chocolate, but I had chalked that up to our being Heads. It was when he made a remark that I thought something might be off.

"_Enjoy," Scorpius said as he took a bite of his chocolate cupcake. _

"_What?" I asked, momentarily confused. _

_He pointed to the chocolate cupcake in front of me and said, "Enjoy."_

"_Err, okay. Thanks. You too." Bizarre, I thought internally as he stared at me. _

"_Don't worry," he said, "I will. Chocolate cupcakes have been my favorite dessert ever since December." He emphasized the word December with a wink. _

_I looked down at the cupcake, and then up back at him while internally my mind whirred back to that day in the kitchens when I had chucked a cupcake at his head. Had it been chocolate? Surely this wasn't what he was referencing. As I sat in thought, Scorpius swiped my cupcake and took a bite. _

"_Hey!" I said, "I was going to eat that!" _

"_I know. I just wanted to have a taste of yours. It's not as sweet as last time," he said with yet another conspiratorial wink. I picked up my bitten cupcake and ate it anyways, not being one to be picky with food and my date sitting next to me had quickly taken my attention away from Scorpius Malfoy._

"Rose?" Scorpius asked me as he waved his hand back and forth in front of my head.

I snapped up, surely I hadn't been lost in memory that long!

"I've got my next class to prepare for, I suggest you do the same," I said as I began stacking my utensils on my plate to make it easier on Pippy. "And stop bloody stealing everything from my office. Tell your little trio that if I ever catch them in the act, I'll make sure that they'll never see the walls outside their rooms, the classrooms and the detention hall."

As I walked through the hallway, I thought further about the graduation ball. I had assumed that it was a mere coincidence that we got chocolate cupcakes again. Now that I knew that Scorpius, ahem, Professor Malfoy remembered the kitchen incident with such fondness, I couldn't help but think that he had somehow orchestrated it so that only the two of us got chocolate cupcakes.

I sat in my classroom, sorting out my materials for my next lecture, Advanced Charms for seventh years, a joint Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw class. I looked for the seat that Adam usually sat in and practiced writing on the chalkboard and whipping around to glare right at his seat. I managed to practice the exact angle once or twice before the students began filing in from their previous class.

As a former Ravenclaw, I couldn't help but enjoy this class a wee bit more than my other ones. The students from Ravenclaw were enthusiastic and tended to ooo and ahhh a lot less when Professor Malfoy made grand entrances into my class for whatever inane reason. Honestly, I didn't know how he managed to disturb me so often seeing as how he had almost the exact same teaching blocks as me.

As the students shuffled into their seats and the class quieted down, I wrote some notes about the organization charm on the blackboard and gave them instructions on how to properly cast it. Being a proponent of house unity, I made sure to pair students with opposing houses in each of my lectures. If I had known that by doing so first year, Bradion and Tim, those little miscreants, would become fast friends and that Adam, easily the most talented student in Charms, would join them, I might have rethought the whole house unity thing.

As I wrote on the board, I attempted my turn and glare on Adam, only to miss and focus my glare on the Hufflepuff student next to him. I quickly turned back around and muttered a couple of expletives. The Hufflepuff didn't raise his hand for the rest of class. Oops.

As I let the students practice, I walked around to make sure that they weren't having too much trouble. I gave pointers here and there and was reaching to help a Ravenclaw with her wand movement, when I heard the door open.

(-)

"I'm sorry Professor Weasley, but I have need of Mr. Adam Lighton," said Professor Malfoy as he strode though the door. Again, he walked with the arrogant stride of someone who owned the room.

"I'm sorry Professor Malfoy, but he's in class right now," she said with a smile. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait."

"I really am sorry to barge into your class like this," I said, "but I have a very pressing matter for Mr. Adam Lighton. Family matter."

Her mind was obviously making lightning quick calculations as she looked to Adam, back at me, then back at Adam trying to decide whether she wanted to press the issue further and potentially lose face in front of her students, or just let me have the win and take Adam.

She turned to me with a gracious smile. Uh oh, I thought, this is not a very good sign. "If it's urgent pressing family matters, of course I can't keep Mr. Lighton here." Adam quickly began packing his things as the rest of the classroom looked at us as if we were a staged play purely for their enjoyment, which we kind of were. "But," she said as she walked over towards me, "but, because Mr. Lighton will be missing the rest of class, out of the kindness of my heart I'll help him practice this charm one on one later on." She smiled ever so sweetly again at me, gestured for Adam to come down, and charmed the door open as we left.

I rushed Adam down the hallway and the minute we entered my office, he began freaking out. "Professor, I really appreciate everything you've done for me and I really hope you and Professor Weasley will get together someday, but I don't really think that I should be involved in the plans anymore. At least, not until I graduate and I can stay far away from her clutches. Actually, not even then."

"Calm down Adam. She's not going to kill you, no matter how frightening she may seem."

"I mean," Adam was still ranting, "sure she's got some few human moments like when she trips over her robes and misdirects her glares, but she's all business the next. Evil, scary business." He leaned over the desk separating us and moaned, "Professor, she's going to give me detention that's labeled one on one tutoring sessions until I graduate and I'm never going to get the chance to date Allie."

_Hee_, I thought to myself, _hee hee hee_. Ah, student love. Seventh year was also the year when my tenuous interest in Rose had evolved into a full-blown crush. Look at me now, a professor at the respected institution and I was still trailing after her. It was out of sympathy for these feelings that Adam, Bradion, Tim and I had decided to help each other out. The boys would help me antagonize Rose until she realized she and I were meant to be and I would make sure the boys would get paired with the girls of their interest every chance I got.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that the entire seventh year was helping me win Rose's heart?

I could tell Rose was boggled by the fact that I had managed to charm the entire seventh year but little did she know that all it took was a simple confession at the start of the term.

I walked Adam to the classroom where students were practicing turning a feather into a pillow and I pushed Adam to join his friends as I sat back to observe. Seeing my students I recalled the time when I had first met them as their professor.

"_Hello," I said to my first class, all four houses of the seventh year. Hogwarts had adapted a change in the normal teaching calendar. In the first week of school, the professors organized the classes so that we could give basic introductory material, expectations, grading and other boring essentials in giant classes so we didn't need to repeat the material. These boring bits were seen as an essential way to start out the school year by most professors, but personally, I thought that by seventh year, the students knew the drill. Instead of going through my expectations for the school year, I had decided to ask my students for help. _

"_Ahem," I said clearing my voice, "I need to make a confession." The students were quiet, eager to see what their new professor would say. Many of the students remembered me from when I had been a seventh year and they merely third years. "There are those of you that remember me when I was a student and I'm sure you remember Professor Weasley as well. Though you guys may not know it, I used to have quite a crush on Professor Weasley and I still like her now. I humbly ask you now to help me win her over." _

_The entire room erupted into titters and catcalls. Students were asking questions left and right and I barely had time to answer them all. _

"_So will you guys help me?" I asked my class, only 10% of me worried that they'd laugh at my face. To my great joy, all the students responded eagerly and happily. Having had her as a Charms professor the past year, they raised their hands eagerly to tell me about all that she had gotten into in her first year as a professor. _

Of course now it was a bit more organized. I had found Adam, Bradion and Tim, three pranksters who's talents I thought could be more well utilized to help me capture Rose's heart. The three became my inner circle with the students, although I made sure to keep a professor-student relationship between us. No matter how friendly we were, they respected me first and foremost as their professor.

In return, I had paired them up with their love interests, Allie for Adam, Madeleine for Bradion and Melissa for Tim. Yes the same Melissa that had made the comment about my 'sexy arse' just loud enough for Rose to hear. I had triumphed over the 'perfect arse' comment to my class the very afternoon it had happened and was overjoyed that Melissa took the opportunity to throw it right back at Rose. Her quick wit was only matched by Tim's and even amongst her fellow Slytherins, she was viewed as one not to cross. Her sharp barbs were capable of producing both uproarious laughter and pathetic sobs.

Madeleine was in Hufflepuff and was the complete opposite to normal Hufflepuff stereotypes. I was constantly surprised when Bradion, as Slytherin, would come to me with some sort of evil plan that would ensure a raging Rose would come straight to me and find that it was Madeleine, the sweet, loyal Hufflepuff that had come up with the idea. Apparently, she was quite a cunning girl, who had lost her parents and had developed an overwhelming loyalty towards her makeshift family, her friends. Thus, her allotment into Hufflepuff. It was actually her idea to start stealing stuff from Rose's office and presenting them in prominence in my office. When I initially balked at the idea, scared that I would be punished, Madeleine pointed out that Rose really wasn't in a position to tattle or else lose face with the Headmistress. If Bradion every succeeded in wooing her, he was going to have a hard time with that one.

Allie was in Gryffindor and was instrumental in finding legitimate, but inane reasons for me to barge into Rose's class. She had helped Adam filch her syllabus, so I could see when would be best to interrupt. Honestly, the idea of the two of them eventually together frightened me. The minute it happened, I was going to take my valuables far, far away to store them in the most secure underground location possible. I was certain that if they truly wanted to, they could even rob Gringott's. In fact, I was more certain that if and when they eventually got together, instead of buying each other presents like normal couples, they would steal presents, each trying to top the other in the most extravagant con.

Yes, the day Adam and Allie were together, I'd have to send multiple owls out to the major wizarding banks of Europe to strengthen security.

Of course, I'm getting distracted here. The students helped by aiding me in grand schemes and events (like the time in December to celebrate the anniversary of our second date, I and my six students, arranged a giant heart of chocolate cupcakes in her classroom). They helped me by ensuring that Rose would hear girls giggling and whispering about how dashing I was or how good looking I was in the hopes that Rose would start to think that I was mildly good looking. I had gotten nowhere with that scheme until recently with the "perfect arse" comment.

They were all fantastically good sports every time I interrupted the class. The Ravenclaws were a bit quieter, but that was for they insisted that if they deviated from their regular manner too much, Rose would discover our grand scheme. That smart little bunch.

They also filled me in on interesting tidbits that happened while she was teaching or told me her reaction to some of my stunts. I was delighted to hear that she had smiled initially the day that I had owled a box of elvish wine miniatures when I knew she was having a bad day. They claim she abruptly brought her hands to her mouth as if to check if she was truly smiling, then immediately frowned as she went back to teaching her class. That was proof enough that she really did like me, but lived in denial.

The bell rung signaling the end of class and broke me out of my reverie. I gathered up the best-conjured pillows and waved goodbye to the majority of students as they all wished me luck and said other encouraging remarks. When they had filed out, I turned the remaining three, Adam, Bradion and Tim. Time to rally the troops.

(-)

As I watched my students filing out of the class, I heard multiple female students gossiping about how they thought "Professor Malfoy's arse is so sexy" or that "Professor Malfoy was so hot and brilliant." I didn't deny the brilliant bit. I had learned plenty about that when we patrolled together as sixth years and I knew for a fact that not every student was accepted back into Hogwarts to teach, especially so soon after graduating.

The arse bit had me puzzled. I had recently been thinking that Malfoy's arse had begun to look a bit more cute than usual. Had he done something to it that the entire female population at Hogwarts had noticed or was I only finally tuning into the thoughts that the rest of them already shared?

Hold on a second. Was I actually going insane? How could I honestly be devoting time into thinking about the state of Malfoy's arse?

When I went up to my chambers to grab a book I had left on my nightstand, I noticed seven new pillows decorating my bed. I took a closer look and saw that these pillows more than made up for the ones I'd lost in plushiness and softness. Probably Scorpius trying to avoid revenge detention on his favorite students, I figured. But it was odd because he had never tried to replace anything he'd stolen before, and it was odder that he'd given me seven new pillows instead of just giving me back my original ones. Strange, I thought as I sunk into them.

Three weeks later

"Honestly, Professor Malfoy, we didn't think that you'd be such a sap when you started the school year," said Allie as she wrote 'Professor Rose Malfoy' on a heart shaped balloon.

"Seriously, you thought I wasn't going to be a sap? Even though I started the school year with a confession of love?" I asked.

"I think it's the fact that you're confession of love had a distinct masculine air about it," said Madeleine as she leant over to pluck a heart balloon from Bradion's hand.

"It's true," said Tim, "I was impressed by your confession. It felt more like a 'I'm a man and I'm gonna get my girl' kind of thing."

"Less of a confession, more of a statement sort of thing," replied Melissa, nodding in agreement.

"Even this," Allie chimed in, "Now that I think about it, even this isn't sappy, is it? You're just trying to annoy and embarrass the pants off her."

I smiled mysteriously at them and continued to blow up heart balloons. Allie was completely right. Rose just got so riled up whenever I embarrassed her and it was a sure way to make her come stomping up to me so I could admire her beautiful face up close.

I could tell the boys wanted to be left alone with their love interests so I rose up and said, "I'll leave the grunt work to you kids." They all pretended to be cross, but I could tell all six of them were eager to have an excuse to hang out without adult supervision.

It was a shame that they were all in separate houses for they really didn't have a space to hang out besides the library or the Great Hall. The other professors were always going on about how they wanted more friendships to develop outside of the houses, but they never made any plans to develop ways to make those friendships develop. I'd have to look into some sort of mixed house common space in a centralized location in the castle… but I couldn't ponder on that now. I was a man on a mission. A mission to annoy the pants off of Rose Weasley.

The next morning, I had the kids help me charm the balloons into her office and classroom. I had already told all of them the day before what I had planned to do and they knew their parts. All I had to do was wait.

After a breakfast punctuated with heart shaped candies and red and pink themed foods, I discreetly trailed Rose as she marched to her classroom. The students were milling about casually outside the classroom, barely able to contain their mirth at the upcoming event.

(-)

There were more seventh years in the hallway than usual, I thought as I walked to my classroom, but it was probably due to Valentine shenanigans. All the students around me buzzed with excitement that could only be due to the fact that it was February 14th, the day for horny students to make out all over the school

I reached for my classroom door and opened it, only to be assaulted by pink, red and white heart shaped balloons.

"AUGH!" I screamed in horror as the balloons poured out. Some of them rose to be level with my head with horrible, disgusting words written on them. One said, "Professor Rose Malfoy," and another said, "Love, Professor Scorpius Malfoy," yet another said, "Professor Rose Weasley + Professor Scorpius Malfoy forever." I looked down at my feet and sure enough the balloons pouring out that remained at feet level were scribbled with the same offending words. I silently mouthed all the words written on the balloons in abject horror as the balloons continuously drifted out from my classroom.

I shook my head into sense and skillfully charmed the balloons to lose all their air and used the organizing charm to neatly put them away in the trash bins. Alas, the balloons that remained at eye level refused to budge. With every eye in the hallway on me, I didn't want to lose my reputation as a "charms prodigy" in case that git Malfoy had doused these particular balloons with some sort of potion that resisted movement charms. I calmly walked into my room, acting as if I didn't mind the fact that there were still seven balloons at eye level hovering behind me as if they were my little ducklings and I their mama duck.

(-)

Better than I could have hoped for. Her scream of horror, the way she silently mouthed the words written on the balloons and the way she'd left the seven balloons trailing after her- it all brought me too much joy for me to handle.

I giggled when I noticed that my six students had put "Professor" in front of both our names on every single balloon.

I couldn't wait till she opened the door to her chambers. I had transfigured about 40 feathers into pillows of various shapes and sizes to fill her entire floor and more in plushy goodness. All the pillows, of course, followed the theme of the day: hearts, pink, and velvet.

(-)

I sat down at lunch next to Professor Malfoy, still with the entourage of seven pink and red balloons trailing behind me. I refused to even look at him as I pushed the chair closer to the table and chose to stare at the meal in front of me.

"Nice," he said. I refused to even make a sound, and he continued. "But don't you think it's a little inappropriate to declare your love for me so the entire school knows?"

Oh no he didn't.

I slowly turned my head towards his stupid laughing face and said, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Erm… That it was slightly inappropriate to declare your love for me this way. Though I do appreciate it- it's a great Valentine's gift."

I bent the fork next to me in anger and Scorpius took a physical leap back in his chair.

"Here's the deal Professor Weasley: I'll give you the potion you pour over the balloons so they'll go away if you listen to the story of our fifth date."

"Fifth date? But I thought you had only told me up to our third date?" The question slipped out of my mouth before I could think.

"Why Professor Weasley, I didn't know that you were paying such close attention!" he crowed. I could hear the complete and utter triumph in his voice, that bastard. "Well I'm going to tell you the story of our fifth date first because it's relevant to this very special day meant for people like us."

"You mean people like us as in a guy who will stop at nothing to annoy a girl who just wants to be left alone?" I quickly shot out.

"No, people like us as in people in love. You're a little dense and you don't realize it yet, but you do like me Rose Weasley. Now shut up and listen to me tell the romantic story of our fifth date." I promptly shut my mouth and swallowed the retort I was about to make. I had to admit; I was intrigued as to what he thought our "fifth date" was.

He continued, "It was the year after we graduated from Hogwarts. We had both decided to attend Belfare, the advanced studies program in Ireland and were wandering through the little trinket shops near the Arithmancy building. Unfortunately some ponce had been stalking you around this time; I think his name was Matt or Marvin or something equally stupid. You were looking at the vintage necklaces that you obviously liked, but the stalker guy you were with was too much of a dunce to realize it."

He smiled crookedly as he said, "You moved onto the next stall and you were holding a vintage razor up in the light to see the carvings when you dropped it on your shoulder. It cut the fabric of your dress and all of the sudden, your creamy shoulder and the lace of your unmentionables were completely visible. I came to your rescue by transfiguring a nearby leaf into a safety pin and pinned your dress back together. We walked back to our dorms together and I dropped you off."

As he was telling the story, I realized that this one was perhaps his most accurate one to date. He had a few details wrong like the fact that the boy's name was Max and he was my boyfriend, not a stalker, and the reason why Scorpius escorted me home was that Max wanted to go look at the latest product from Dorian's Defense Props. Other than these omissions, his story was mostly correct, but I couldn't help but notice that there was no mention of Valentine's anywhere in the story.

I voiced my concern in the haughtiest tone possible, "I couldn't help but notice that the story had nothing to do with February 14th."

"I'm getting to it!" Scorpius laughed as he said, "Patience is not one of your virtues." He paused a bit as if to gather his words.

(-)

I paused a bit to gather my thoughts as I continued my story with a bit of trepidation. Up until this point, all my date stories had been told with a bit of joke and humor. I had been making chance encounters and forced one on one meetings into golden hued dates, but the story I was about to tell needed no spinning to be romantic. Sure, I had mounds of courage, but it took some stones to admit to the woman of your dreams that you'd been mooning over her for years.

I drew a breath and let out my secret, "A week later on February 14th, you received a parcel in the mail. You opened to find inside a silver box, the vintage necklace you had taken a liking to on our fifth date. There was no card; no indication of who had sent it for even the owl used was a regular school owl. The idiot that hung around you took credit and I stayed on the sidelines saying nothing."

I took another huge breath, "_I _sent you that necklace, Rose." I waited and looked to her face for a response. Admitting that I had sent that necklace was tantamount to admitting that I've had not just a schoolboy crush, but a deep interest in her happiness. This was admitting that I wasn't just playing around, that I wanted something real.

She blinked her once, twice. I tried to stare at her with all the sincerity I could manage and finally she broke into a smile and started laughing. Laughing? Outright laughing?! In all the scenarios I'd played out in my head, laughing was definitely the worst reaction.

"You had me going there for a second!" Rose chortled, "I honestly thought you were being serious for a change!" She noticed the students staring and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Seriously, though. I was worried for a while that you were being genuinely-" the bell for classes rang, cutting her off. She quickly grabbed a roll off the table while muttering under her breath about how bloody hungry she was and raced off.

I sat back in my seat as I watched the rush of professors and students racing to their afternoon classes. I myself had a sixth year Transfiguration class to teach, but I was too drained by my encounter with Rose to even make a move.

(-)

I slipped into my chambers with my balloons still trailing me, tired from acting authoritarian and frightening to my second years, not to mention from the exchange Scorpius and I had at lunch. As exhausted and hungry as I was from not eating at lunch, I couldn't risk running into him in the kitchens, so I flopped into the many pillows and dug out the roll I'd stored in my robe earlier and gave it a half-hearted munch.

After laying there like a boneless sack of flesh for a couple minutes, clearing my head of all thoughts, I made my way over to the armoire to make myself look at least decently presentable for my next class. I looked into the mirror and chuckled at the sight of my balloon entourage hovering behind me. But wait- what was that silver box lying on the dresser?

I turned around and inspected the box when I had a flashback to a Valentine's day years earlier when I found a similar silver box on my dresser at Belfare. Curious. I opened the box and lifted the silver necklace from the cushion it was laying on.

Hanging from the chain was a pure silver safety pin with the tiniest of diamonds embedded on one edge. Could it be that Scorpius had been telling the truth about the vintage necklace from the antique shop? Could it be that Max had lied about the necklace? That it was truly Scorpius that had bought the necklace for me?

I needed to find the antique necklace. _Accio vintage necklace!_ The burnished bronze piece of jewelry flew straight at me. I held it up next to the safety pin necklace and considered the pieces of evidence.

One, Max had acted strange when I asked him about the necklace.

Two, how could Scorpius have known that I had received the necklace from a tawny brown regular school owl if it hadn't been sent from him?

Three, the safety pin necklace, which was obviously from Scorpius, was wrapped in the same silver box that the antique necklace had been wrapped in.

Put the clues together and it became obvious. Scorpius was the one who had sent that necklace so long ago and if he had sent me that necklace it meant that he had genuinely held a torch for me back then. I looked again at the silver safety pin and held it against my neck. Could his interest in me have held for that long? Was it possible that he still liked me or was I just some obsession because I had never fell for his charms? It was possible that he had truly like me long ago, but now I was just a project for him to complete. Something in the unfinished section that he wanted to conquer and as soon as I let him complete the quest to win my love, he'd drop me in an instant… Too many questions to handle and I couldn't even get a grasp onto my own feelings!

I fingered the safety pin charm dangling from the necklace and thought about the way that I felt my heart quicken every time Scorpius pulled a stupid move. I thought about the way I tried to force myself to think of him as Professor Malfoy, but couldn't help but refer to him as Scorpius all the time in my head. The sheer amount of time I spent thinking about him also suggested that he had indeed managed to find some empty real estate in my head. This year with the stupid gestures and the talks of our past dates had only been building upon real estate that he already had. It would be best for me to avoid him until I could figure out what exactly was going on between us.

I placed the necklace back on the dresser, flopped on my bed and screamed into my pillow. Wait. These pillows were from Scorpius… and they all said "Mrs. Rose Malfoy." _Augh!_ I had known from the minute the Headmistress announced him as the new Transfiguration professor that this year was to be bad.

Merlin's hairy balls! The Headmistress! I had forgotten that I had a meeting with her to evaluate my new Charms curriculum for my seventh years! I rushed to my desk and began furious scribbling on a piece of parchment and pulled out my syllabus and essays from my seventh years. I figured that if I worked all night, I would be able to finish in time to make a decent presentation plus working all night would ensure that I'd avoid thinking about a certain blond professor.

(-)

I didn't see Rose that night at dinner or in the kitchens after dinner. I checked with Pippy to see if I had maybe missed her, but Pippy told me that she hadn't seen Rose all day. Rose, going through the day on solely breakfast? This was unheard of and it deflated my confidence just a smidge to see how far she would go to avoid me.

I sighed as I crouched down to talk to Pippy. "Pippy, I need you to listen to me."

She nodded eagerly, her ears flopping up and down like a rabbit as she said, "Yes sirs Professor Malfoy. Pippy will listens very carefully."

"Pippy, can you keep a secret?"

Pippy nodded eagerly again.

"Good. I need you to go up to Professor Weasley's room with a full course meal complete with dessert. Can you do that for me?"

Another eager nod.

"But the most important part is that you don't tell her that I told you to do it. Okay?"

Pippy nodded eagerly again and ran off to complete her task. I made my way back to my office where I had some very eager seventh years awaiting their next mission.

(-)

"Thanks again Pippy! I can't believe you were so thoughtful to think of me like that!" I watched as Pippy laid out dish after steaming hot dish of food on my table.

"Yours is welcome," squeaked Pippy and she banged her fist against her head.

"Pippy, why did you do that? Why did you punish yourself?"

"Pippy punished Pippy because Pippy is lying to missus Professor Weasley," squeaked Pippy as pitiful as a three-legged puppy.

"Pippy, what are you lying about?"

"Pippy is bound by oath to sirs. Pippy can not tell missus about sirs."

Hmm, now I was curious. What was Pippy hiding?

"Pippy," I said while turning her chin towards my face. "Pippy, you know that you are bound to Hogwarts, right?" She nodded. "So Pippy, no matter who you've made a secret with, as long as it isn't with the Headmistress, you're allowed to tell me. No, in fact, you should tell me." She looked up at me with questioning eyes. Sigh, I really didn't want to go here, but I was too curious at this point. " I know it isn't the Headmistress' secret you're keeping since you referred to him as 'sirs' and if you continue to not tell me his secret, I'm afraid I'm going to have to report your bad behavior to the Headmistress herself."

Her eyes widened in shock. I really didn't want to have to go here, but I was way too curious. Pippy opened her mouth the barest minimum and squeaked, "Pippy promised sirs Professor Malfoy. Pippy told secret; will mistress Professor Weasley still tell Headmistress?"

I smiled at Pippy and tried to mask my surprise as I said in the calmest voice possible, "No, Pippy. I won't be telling the Headmistress about this. Oh, and Pippy, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't punish yourself anymore. Okay?"

(-)

As I neared my office, I could hear someone's voice rising before someone else yelled at him (for the first voice was distinctly male) to quiet. I was nothing if not sneaky so I decided to do my own spying on my little spies before heading into the room.

"I'm telling you that he doesn't need to know that part!" Was that Adam?

"Oh come off it. He's the one that tasked us with finding this stuff out." That haughty voice was the definitely Bradion.

"I think we shouldn't tell him yet. We haven't gotten the proper evidence to decide whether it's actually what we think it is-" Adam was interrupted by Tim.

"Oh bollocks. We all know what it is. It's obvious, can't ya' tell?"

I opened the door and swooped in. "What's so obvious, boys?"

The boys gaped. Adam scowled furiously at Tim and Bradion as Tim handed me a piece of parchment and began explaining.

"We were off in Professor Weasley's office looking for things from her exes to steal again when this owl came in."

"And you boys thought it would be a good idea to read her private correspondence?" I raised an eyebrow. I knew I was the one tasking them with the duty of stealing minor things from her office, but this was taking things one step too far. I know that it was silly of me to think this way but for some reason, the stealing thing to me was more of an annoying prank rather than a violation. If Rose had reacted hurt and betrayed by my stealing rather than annoyed and frustrated, I would have stopped in a heartbeat.

However curious I was about the letter, I knew I had no right to read it. I folded it up and tucked it into my robe, intending to give it to Rose the next time I saw her with a full explanation. I would take full responsibility for my boys' actions for they were under my instructions. Sigh, no matter how chummy I was with these particular seventh years, I'd have to remember in the future that these were, in fact, seventh years and not my peers.

The boys sensed my disappointment and were whispering amongst each other when Tim blurted aloud, "It's a love note from some bloke."

Suddenly, the letter in my robe seemed to burn. I could feel the bit of parchment brushing up against my shirt and it screamed at me to read it.

I held up a hand to Tim and said, "Don't say anything else. I don't want to know. I'm sure you boys know what you've done wrong so I know I don't need to lecture you. Am I right?" The boys nodded. "I'll just tell you one thing. Private correspondence is exactly what it sounds like- private. I encouraged you to take Professor Weasley's things so I can't blame you for taking it one step further and reading her letters, but you should know that reading someone else's mail is never allowed. Tonight, I want to be left in peace. I'll see you tomorrow- and bring the girls."

As they left, I thudded into my (or should I say Rose's) plushy chair as I thought upon this new discovery. So my dear Rose has a boyfriend…

(-)

I rushed up to the Headmistress' office. Late, late, late, late, I thought to myself as I ran in quite an undignified manner down the hallway. I would have to hope that none of my students would see me as I flailed, my legs running down the corridor with a trail of balloons following me five feet away. I had never gotten the chance to get that potion from Scorpius for the balloons. I had worked all night and of course, I'd woken up way later than I should.

Luckily, the Headmistress and I were family friends that went way back. She didn't mind the fact that I was late and I apologized twenty times for my unprofessional behavior and the very unprofessional balloons hanging around my person. I think I heard a giggle (a giggle!) when she first saw the balloons, but that might have been my mind playing tricks on me from the severe sleep deprivation.

I quickly zoomed through the presentation, and the Headmistress praised my new curriculum and told me that she would decide whether to keep it at the end of the year, but that chances were very good that it would stick. We decided to celebrate with tea and quickly got to talking.

"Rose, I have to ask. The balloons?"

"Oh Headmistress. I'm so sorry about them!"

"There's nothing to be sorry about. They are quite entertaining, actually. Am I to understand that you and Professor Malfoy are in a dating relationship?"

I quickly put up my hands and shook them left and right frantically. "Definitely not. You have nothing to worry about on that front."

"Worry, Rose? Why would I worry? I know you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." She drew out a stack of letters two inches thick and tossed them to me. "It's your family that doesn't think you can."

I quickly grabbed the letters and browsed them.

"…wanted to enquire about some rumors surround my sister and Professor Scorpius Malfoy..." Oh my stupid overprotective _younger_ brother.

"… I'd heard that dear Rosie was head over heels in love with Scorpius Malfoy, is this correct?" this one was from my mum.

"Headmistress, if he really is dating my cousin, I need to go over there and _teach him a lesson_ so please owl back at your earliest convenience…" and this handwriting was from my cousin James.

"…these rumors floating around couldn't possibly be true, could it?" and this from Lily. You'd think that Lily would be able to ask me herself.

"I think a drop kick would be in order, don't you Headmistress?" Sigh, of course Fred would be the violent one.

I put down the rest of the letters, knowing that every single one was perhaps filled with the exact same thing and let out a huge sigh.

"It's quite funny to me, actually," said the Headmistress, "for you two remind me of another young couple. A young couple who has become the stuff of legends."

"Who were they?" I asked, "Do I know about them?"

The Headmistress smiled. "I'm sure you do. The entire wizarding world knows their name and you are intimately familiar with this couple's progeny."

Intimately familiar with a couple's progeny? Did she mean my mum and dad? Or maybe Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny? "Who were they?"

"Why, James and Lily Potter of course."

I rushed out of that meeting as soon as I could.

Sure, the Headmistress used to be one of the cleverest witches in the UK, but now? Now, I was forced to think that she might be getting to an age where… brain matter becomes a bit mushy. Mushy enough to think that Scorpius and I were anything like the couple that had become the stuff of romance legends.

The bickering enemies that had turned into the fiercest of lovers were widely biographied and the books became major best sellers to the eternal mortification of Uncle Harry. To have the Headmistress compare James and Lily Potter to me and Scorpius?! Unfathomable.

Still, I thought as I touched the necklace hidden underneath my robes, maybe there was a chance that her brain hadn't turned to mush. Oh, stop it Rose. Get a grip of yourself. I had a momentary instance of weakness when I had put on the old antique necklace this morning. It was truly stupid of me to wear it, but to reason with myself, I told myself that I was fine wearing this necklace when I thought Max had given it to me. Why shouldn't it be any different knowing that Scorpius had bought it for me?

Speak of the devil. I got to the Great Hall and sat down next to Scorpius, double-checking to make sure the necklace was safely hidden under my robes.

"Hello Rose!" Scorpius said brightly as he turned to face me.

I didn't spare him a glance as I dug right into the food. There was no way he'd ensnare me in a talk this time. I was hungry and I was determined to eat unbothered by annoying people like the bloke sitting to the right of me.

"Did you get my Valentine's gift? Did you like it? It was custom made. Have you realized that you're completely enamored by me yet?"

He was needling me for a reaction at this point and as much as I didn't want to give him the pleasure, I couldn't resist. "I reject your advances time and time again. Tell me Professor Malfoy, how do you remain so supremely confident that I like you?"

"Easy. Because you do."

I blinked. "But I don't."

"Oh, but you do."

"But I don't."

"But you do."

Honestly at this point I knew we were acting like children and I knew that the students in the front of us could hear what was going on, but I didn't care. I needed to have the last word.

"But I don't. End of story."

"But there was an epilogue and guess what? You do."

"And then there was a sequel and it turns out that I don't."

"Oh, but guess what. It turns out that sequel was written by another author and wasn't an authorized sequel to the original so you do."

"Well-"

"_Professor_ Weasley," Professor Longbottom (aka Uncle Neville), interrupted me, "If you continue this conversation any further I will invite your parents over for tea."

Eep. That made me stop in my tracks. I loved my family to bits, but they were… how to properly say it? Overprotective busybodies that needed to know every little bit about my life. Was that too harsh? One of the main benefits of working at Hogwarts was the fact that I spent so much of my year physically separated from them. It was marvelous.

"Rose," Scorpius whispered, "You are already falling for me and you have been for a while. You've got all the signs of a girl who's falling hard; you're just too dense to know it. _That's_ the reason why I'm so supremely confident."

I shot him a bitter look, not daring to say a word just in case Uncle Neville made good on his threat.

He whispered again, "Oh, and I have something of yours to give you. Meet me in ten minutes outside the door. I don't want to do it in public."

(-)

It wasn't until I gave her a peek of the envelope that she agreed to leave the Great Hall with me.

"Here," I said as I handed her the envelope. "The boys brought this to me today along with the usual goods. Unfortunately I only caught them after they had already read it, but you can rest assured that I haven't glimpsed at it and they've been properly admonished."

She opened the envelope and read the contents. I had to use every ounce of willpower to not crane my neck to read along with her. She smiled at the contents of the letter with what I thought was a bit of rue. She looked back up at me and I couldn't help it- my jealous side reared its ugly head and I blurted out, "So what did your boyfriend say?"

Rose cocked her head and asked, "What did you say?"

"Your boyfriend. Your lover. Soon to be ex. The guy you're dating who wrote the letter. How's he doing?"

"I thought you said you didn't read it. How do you know that the guy who wrote this is my boyfriend?"

"Because Tim told me before I could shut him up."

"Well you can tell Tim that the man who wrote this letter is not my boyfriend, but my uncle Bill who is in the habit of calling me his 'baby girl' and 'sweetie.'"

I smiled in relief.

"It must have been quite difficult for you to walk around without once opening this letter. I must say Professor Malfoy, I am quite impressed."

"Well I have to draw the boundary somewhere. Somehow I feel that reading your private correspondence wasn't going to get me into your good graces."

"You're correct, but you know what might? Tell me about our fourth date."

By this time we had wandered over to one of the many secret nooks and crannies that Hogwarts seemed to offer. As we sat on the stone, I was surprised. Here was Rose Weasley actually asking me about more information about our fake dating history! Was I finally getting her to admit her feelings for me?

"I thought about it and I figure that the only time we spent together between dates three and five was the train ride to Belfare. Am I right?"

Rose had actually thought about when our "fourth date" was? Well if she was so curious I'd have to give her the whole story. "You're right. It was on the train to Belfare. The train to Belfare was a bit shitty and cold and worst of all it was a muggle train so we couldn't use any magic onboard. We shared a blanket to combat the cold and might have gotten a bit too tipsy while trying to warm ourselves with alcohol. Our hands brushed together multiple times and you fell asleep on my shoulder while I fell asleep on your head. It was picture perfect."

"Why Professor Malfoy, if I didn't know any better I'd say you're quite the romantic."

"Well Professor Weasley, I believe you know me quite well and you also know that I am indeed quite a romantic."

(-)

He smoldered at me. I suddenly became super conscious of my arms, my hands, my eyes, my lips. What did I ordinarily do with my hands? Why were they just hanging there like idiots next to my body? Where did I usually place my eyes while talking to Scorpius? Was I supposed to look at his chin? His eyes? His forehead?

The bell rung signaling class and broke me out of my reverie.

(-)

She smiled at me in an awkward manner and mumbled an equally awkward good-bye.

Later that night, I had my meeting with the three boys and per their request, I let the three girls tag along. The girls hadn't been particular friends before this year, but they got along smashingly and I had to admit I was developing a particular fondness for this ragtag group of seventh years. Besides, having a female perspective might be helpful so I gladly accepted them into the meeting and I told the six students the story of what happened during breakfast.

"Professor, you are _such_ a sap," said Mel.

"The story of your fourth date genuinely sounds like you got it from a storybook," said Tim.

"But it does sound like the sappy story made her feel… something," said Bradion.

"What do you think it made her feel? Uncomfortable?" I asked. "Or do you think she finally realized she likes me?"

"Er, I think that might be taking it a bit far," said Adam.

"The most we can say is that you've made her realize that your feelings for her are… er… intense," said Mel.

"Intense?" I asked.

"Intense isn't necessarily a bad thing," said Madeleine.

"Well she was definitely moody today. She wouldn't stop fidgeting with this necklace and she'd just trail off mid-explanation and just stare out the window or something," said Allie.

"What? What did the necklace look like? Was it a safety pin?" My hopes went exponentially up.

"No," said Tim.

My hopes went exponentially down.

"It was some old looking thing," said Allie. "It looked like an antique. It definitely had a vintage feel about it."

And my hopes slowly began creeping up again. "This antique necklace… did it look like a bird?"

"Now that you say it, it did have a bird shape about it," said Allie.

My hopes shot up again. So Rose Weasley might not be wearing the Valentine's gift I got her this year, but she was certainly wearing the Valentine's gift I had gotten her three years ago. That was a start.

(-)

Three weeks later

Spring was coming and with it, love.

The news of the day was that Adam of Ravenclaw and Allie of Gryffindor had finally gotten together. With his brilliance and her lack of fear they were a fearsome pair to behold and the minute I heard of their happy news, I went straight to my chambers to double triple my defenses against thieves.

Adam had a particular talent with locking and unlocking charms and I had already suggested that he take his talents to Gringott's in the hopes that he could develop charms and magical defenses against other thieves. I had also recommended Allie to Gringott's, but as a curse breaker. According to Scorpius she had a talent for Transfiguration. That coupled with her thief like mentality and her better than average Charms skills would make her an excellent addition to the curse breakers.

It was my hopes that by turning these two towards the path of catching thieves, that they wouldn't become thieves themselves.

I had attempted to sit down with the both of them and explain the moral reasoning why thieving was bad, but it hadn't gone through their thick heads. They replied to my morality lecture that if they ever did steal, they'd only steal from people who "deserved it." The insisted that if they became like the Muggle hero, Robin Hood, that they wouldn't really be in the wrong for they'd be helping the poor. When I had explained that it wasn't really up to them to decide who deserved to be stolen from, they'd laughed as if I had been telling a joke and reassured me that they would be good. Unfortunately, I'm inclined to believe that their definition of good is far different from mine.

Now that they were actually together, it would be more difficult to stop them. Sigh, as a professor, you couldn't help but fret over your students as if they were your own children.

My office door opened and out popped the smug mug of Professor Scorpius Malfoy.

"What do you want?" I asked. Well, to be honest, I barked it.

"Why so hostile? I just wanted to see how your spring evaluations were going along."

"Nearly finished. Go away."

He sat down in front of me. "Did you write down that you were suggesting Allie of Gryffindor as a curse breaker?"

I looked up at him, "Yes, you told me weeks ago that you thought she'd be suited to the job."

"So you actually listened to me?"

I looked up again from my paperwork. "Professor Malfoy, I may think that you're the most annoying creature whose sole purpose is to pester me till I die a painful death, but I do respect your mind."

"You respect me for my mind?"

"I really need to finish this paperwork."

"So what do you think about the new law about werewolves?"

That was a random question. "What?"

"I asked, 'What do you think about the new law-'"

I waved at him to shut up. "I know what you asked; I'm asking why you asked it."

"Because as much as I like my ickle seventh year students, I need someone my age to have an intelligent conversation about current events."

"Why me? Why now?" I was seriously puzzled. That question had come out of nowhere and I had learned to suspect everything when it came to Scorpius Malfoy.

"You because everyone else in the tower is either too bloody old or they're babies. Now, because I feel like it."

"Are you planning something devious?"

"No. And how could a conversation about the new legislation on the legal rights of werewolves be devious?"

"You could be trying to lure me into an interesting conversation, then attack me with red balloons that say 'Mrs. Rose Malfoy' or something."

He laughed at that then put on a mock serious face and said, "I swear that I have no devious intentions with this conversation."

"So you don't have Tim or someone else hiding behind the door waiting for a signal to come in and wreck havoc?"

He chortled and said, "Definitely not."

(-)

I couldn't help but break into a smile as I walked away from Rose's office. She had taken my opinion that Allie should become a curse breaker and we had an actual conversation about recent legislation.

Some might think that my love for Rose was creepy or weird seeing as how I had never actually dated her or even been true friends with her. I certainly didn't see my Rose obsession as creepy. Even though I had never formally dated her or really even been friends, living with her in the same castle and taking classes with her for nine years had taught me much about her.

In Hogwarts I learned more about her in sixth and seventh year, but at Belfare it was a much smaller community and although there wasn't a formal setting for us to be forced to spend time together, it was inevitable that we would.

Belfare was such an elite school that it accepted 20-25 students per year. I was the only student studying Advanced Transfiguration and Rose was one of two studying Advanced Charms. It was at this elite academy where my tremendous crush began its ascent into the crazy altitudes of love.

The train ride to Belfare was just the start. With such a small class we were often in each other's company and though we were never the closest of friends, we did hang out in the same circle. I admit, when I was jealous I'd take things a little too far and the snarky, biting comments couldn't help but escape my mouth.

Although I had the chance to change her mind about me during our years at Belfare, it was my stupid mouth that got me into far too much trouble with her and made her unable to see that we would be perfect together.

I got to my office and relaxed into the cushiony, velvet chair.

Every single student thought I was bonkers for thinking that Rose like me, but they didn't know about the little things I'd seen here and there.

If she really hated all the little things I did to her like the balloon incident or the stealing thing, she just wouldn't talk to me. She'd ignore my presence or if forced to speak with me, she'd be icy cold polite. That's what Rose does when she's genuinely furious with someone.

With me, she makes her way over to my office and gives me a mild lecture and occasionally some form of punishment. If she truly didn't want to see me, she would ignore me, but the fact that she takes the effort to come over makes me think that she's just looking for excuses to talk with me.

I looked at the stack of evaluations I had on my desk. _Sigh_. I had no business thinking about Rose when I had a massive pile of spring evaluations to complete.

(-)

One month later

We talk to each other now.

I know it's weird. By "talk" I actually mean talk. We have discussions and we debate. We gossip about the students, we make fun of the teachers and we laugh over the Marvin the Muggle comics. Of course we still bite at each other and he'll sneak in an inappropriate comment now and then, but overall we have an almost normal relationship.

Oh wait, I forgot about the fact that he still _steals things from me_. Since I've amped up the security in my chambers, they've taken to stealing things in the classroom, which is great (that's sarcasm). In all reality, I let the two steal from my classroom because I need to give the two thieves something to do.

Oh and more importantly, I forgot to mention the little fact that he's beginning to confuse me.

Yes. Although I'd never admit it, not to Lily and definitely not to Scorpius, the idiot has managed to confuse me. I genuinely look forward to seeing him for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When he interrupts my classes, I often find a grin on my face instead of a frown and when he pops by my office late at night for a discussion, it makes me happy.

Which is why I'm a little confused as to why he isn't currently here.

We had a routine going on. He comes to my office a little after nine with some after dinner snacks and we talk about the world and us. However, this lovely Thursday, he was nowhere to be found. At 9:10 I assumed that he must be busy with letter of recommendations, but it was currently 9:30 he still hadn't come.

I began pacing in my office. It wasn't as if I could be angry or anything. Our little get togethers weren't an official thing. How could I be angry at him for missing something that was never an official meeting?

But then again, by now I could consider our relationship a friendship and friends usually don't cancel on each other without giving some sort of notice. Right? If I went looking for him in his office would it look like I cared too much? Would it give him the wrong idea?

I looked at myself in the mirror and quickly admonished myself. "Rose Weasley, get yourself together!" I pointed a finger at myself through the mirror and said, "He's Professor Malfoy and it's perfectly fine for you to go talk to him."

I marched over to his office, wimped out and marched back to my office. Wait, my classroom. Surely Allie and Adam had stolen something from my classroom, which would give me an excuse to go over to him and see if he was in his office!

I quickly went to my classroom and checked all over to see if anything was missing and found that everything was where it should be. Damn. Really? The two thieves couldn't have stolen from me today when I actually really wanted it?

(-)

I couldn't stop tapping my fingers on my desk. I got up multiple times only to have the mocking voices of Mel and Tim ringing in my head about how weak I was and I sat back down each time.

I had been actually hanging out with Rose everyday for the past month. I was taking a huge gamble by sitting tonight out to see what she would do. If she really didn't care about me, then she'd do nothing, but I knew she cared about me. I knew that she cared and that she was probably freaking out right now about the fact that I wasn't at her office.

She was probably checking her classroom to see if Adam and Allie had stolen anything, but I had already ensured that they'd put back anything that the had stolen in the past. Next, she'd probably pace and pace until she convinced herself that…

And here she was.

"Professor Malfoy."

"Yes, Professor Weasley? What can I help you with?"

"Well Professor Malfoy, I was just wondering if you had written a recommendation for Bradion."

"I am writing a recommendation letter for Bradion. I believe I told you about the position in the Ministry last night."

"Well, I must have forgotten. Sorry to have bothered you Professor Malfoy." She moved to leave the office.

"Wait, Rose." She stopped. "Are you sure that's all you came here for?"

She turned to look at me with a glint in her eye. Uh oh.

"You," she said as she jabbed a finger in my direction. "You did this on purpose! You got into my good favors by treating me with enlightening, funny talks every night and then you didn't come today just to mess with me! You made me flip out on purpose! You made my walk up to your office THREE times just to turn around and you made me think that I was going insane! You made me think that I missed you, which is silly considering that I had just seen you at dinner. You keep on building on the real estate you have in my head! You've got a bloody expansive flat now, you moron! Stop building!" She finished her tirade and drew a deep breathe and said, "Professor Malfoy, just what exactly is your game plan?"

"You missed me?" She missed me! She had just said that she missed me irrationally!

"What?"

"You said that you missed me even though you had just seen me at dinner."

"I'll answer your question after you answer mine."

"I've forgotten your question." I really hadn't. I just wanted her to admit that she missed me.

"What's your game plan? Why are you messing with me? How have you corrupted my mind this way?"

"My game plan is to start dating you officially. I'm messing with you because it seems like the only way to get you to open up your eyes to the fact that you are falling for me. I haven't corrupted your mind. You've corrupted mine. I've got the Rose Weasley bug and I've got it bad and I'm afraid that this particular disease is for life."

She gaped at me.

"Now answer my question."

"I've forgotten what it is."

"Did you really miss me?"

"You've completely taken over my mind." And with that statement, she swept out my office and presumably marched back to hers.

I leaned back in the stolen velvet chair and couldn't help but break into a smile. She missed me.

(-)

The next morning, Scorpius treated me as if nothing had happened the night before and we carried on as usual. He came over that night with some cookies and milk and we discussed our plans for an Inter-House Common Room.

The day after that also carried on like usual and the day after that and the day after that. We were friends and I was unsatisfied. I had finally gotten made a friend in this dreary castle far away from everyone that I held near and dear to my heart and I was unsatisfied.

As I sat on my bed, piled high with cushions that said "Rose + Scorpius" my eyes were drawn to a glint of silver on my armoire. The silver safety pin necklace was winking at me and I didn't appreciate it. I dug underneath the covers and pillows and burrowed my way to make a tunnel and slept.

(-)

Two weeks later

Rose and I stood on the steps with the Headmistress in front of the group of students.

"Due to the efforts of Professor Malfoy and Weasley, Hogwarts has transformed this southern turret to an Inter-House Common Room. Years one and two will share a floor while years three to seven will have their own floor and each floor will have its own password. I'll let your Prefects tell you the passwords for each year and the rules of the Inter-House Common Rooms…" The Headmistress droned on a bit more about House unity and how she hoped to see more friendships develop between Houses.

I looked at the crowd and saw my six students smiling happily at the fact that they would have a space to hang out now besides my office and they wouldn't stop shooting me grins and thumbs ups.

I looked over at Rose who was standing to the left of the Headmistress and gave her a large grin. She also seemed a bit bored by the Headmistress, returned my grin and played with a silver necklace.

Hold on. That silver necklace looked awfully familiar. That silver necklace couldn't possibly be the silver necklace that I had given her. Could it?

I tried to look more closely at the necklace but the damn podium was getting in the way and as I was standing in front of all the students in Hogwarts, I couldn't very well make an ass of myself and push past the Headmistress.

I settled for quirking my eyebrows in question at Rose and trying to telepathically ask her about the necklace. Was it the one I gave her? Was she wearing it just for kicks? Was she wearing it just to mess with my mind? Was she wearing it because it matched her freaking outfit? Why wasn't she picking up on my telepathic questions?!

The Headmistress finally ended her speech and invited the Head Boy and Girl to make a few remarks about how they hoped to encourage House Unity. When the speeches finally ended, I made my way over to Rose only to be tackled by my favorite six students.

"Professor, why didn't you tell us?"

"Professor, this is bloodly fantastic!"

"Professor, does this mean that we aren't going to be hanging out in your office anymore?"

They shot question after question at me and then proceeded to pepper me with thanks and hugs. I tried to answer all their inquiries and after gratefully accepting their thanks, I gracefully shoved them out of the way to hunt down Rose.

I looked around and couldn't find her amongst the crowd so I hurried over to her office, all the while ignoring the six students still questioning me.

I slammed open the door to her office and she turned around to face me, still fingering the charm on her necklace. I moved her hand off the charm and saw that it was indeed my silver safety pin.

I grasped the charm in my hand and I asked her, "Why are you wearing this?"

She gave me the sauciest grin I had ever seen in my life and answered, "Why do you think, you idiot?" and pulled my head down to give me the best kiss of my life.

Our lips met and my hand quickly left the charm to wrap around her waist only to have her suddenly pull away when we heard whooping.

We both whipped our heads to the open door to find my six precious students cheering and hooting. I laughed internally, but Rose, flustered, backed away from me and marched over to the students who suddenly quieted down.

"I know that you six have been plotting with Professor Malfoy about me this past year and I'm not above putting you six in detention to enact my revenge. However, seeing as how kissing said Professor has made me incredibly happy, I'll choose not to punish you as long as you get out of our hair so I can get back to the kissing. Do we have a deal?"

The six students quickly nodded their heads and flew out of the corridor and most likely into the Great Hall to announce our relationship to the rest of the student body.

Whatever. I could care less.

Rose sauntered back into the office, locked the door with a charm I'd never heard of (I loved how she was so brilliant) and we promptly got back to the kissing.

My hands were in her hair, my hands snaked across her back, my hands were supporting her as she wrapped her legs around my waist. My lips flew from her lovely lips to her pale neck. She fired synapses in my brain using just her lips. Her lips were all over mine, then she began focusing on my collarbone and then they moved up to my neck. I nibbled at her ear and she nibbled back. This moment that I had been waiting for so long was finally here and it was all I had ever wanted.

(-)

Three months later

We strolled through Hogsmead, the eight of us as deliriously happy as we could be. Anyone else looking at us would be absolutely disgusted seeing as how we were practically all coupled up.

I was holding hands with Scorpius, Allie and Adam were hooked at the hip and the unofficially coupled other four, Bradion, Tim, Mel and Madeleine were walking as a group. Tim was the only one who hadn't found a full time position yet, but he wasn't worried seeing as how he had wanted to take the time to travel.

Graduation had been lovely, and Scorpius and I had taken the task of acting as Madeleine's quasi parents. We took a million and one photos of her, took photos with her and fussed over her embarrassingly like all the other parents were doing. Although she kept on telling us over and over again how it was unnecessary and how we were embarrassing her, I could tell that she had needed it and that she was grateful.

Due to our close relationship with these six particular students, we had gotten permission from their parents to take them out after graduation.

As we walked to The Three Broomsticks for a drink, I leaned over to Scorpius and said, "I'm so utterly happy right now."

He leaned over and pecked me quickly so the students wouldn't see and squeezed my hand. He was the perfect boyfriend and to be honest, I could see us potentially getting married one day. I know, it was too serious to discuss in a three month relationship, but it we had known each other for so long already that it didn't seem like it was a mere three month relationship.

I looked at the graduates laughing in front of us as they opened the door to The Three Broomsticks and couldn't help but ask Scorpius, "So how exactly did you rope these six into helping you out?"

He laughed and answered, "Those three," he pointed to the boys, "Have a crush on the three girls."

"Obviously," I said.

"I merely offered to give them the opportunity to spend time with them. I had already confessed my love for you to the entire seventh year and it was relatively easy to work situations where the six of them had to work together in my office."

"So you bribed them by offering time to hang out with their crushes?"

"Yep."

"And that worked?"

"What can I say? Those boys are romantics just like me."

He gave me the most charming of smiles and I grinned back happily.

The eight of us crammed into a booth and Scorpius brought over Butterbeers for the eight of us.

"Oh come on Professor, we aren't even students anymore. Can't you get us some Firewhiskey?" asked Tim.

"That would be a negative," I said to Tim. "Even if you lot have graduated you'll always be students to us and students don't drink Firewhiskey."

Tim frowned, but drained his Butterbeer anyways.

I looked at the six students and gave a resigned sigh. I was going to miss this group of idiots, even if they had spent the majority of the year cooking up ways to annoy me.

"So was there any word as to whether the Inter-House Common Rooms would be kept up or not?" asked Madeleine.

"Well, the professors discussed it as seeing as how the general student reaction to the Commons have been good, we're going to keep them," answered Scorpius.

The six students cheered and we clinked our Butterbeers to celebrate the start of true House unity.

"I have to ask, was the whole stealing thing just something to give Allie and Adam here something productive to do and not throw the whole school in chaos?" I asked.

"Erm…" said Scorpius. "I think Madeleine here should explain a bit more about that.

"Well Professor," said Madeleine, staring me straight in the eyes. "It was an easy way to rile you up and more than that it was a surefire way of getting you to talk, well yell, at Professor Malfoy. All he wanted was some face-time. He didn't care what we did to get that for him."

I stared at her. I stared at Allie and Adam who shrank back in his seat. I stared at Scorpius who gave the slightest hint of a smile and I bursted into diabolical laughter.

"You guys are ridiculous!" I exclaimed. Seriously, Scorpius Malfoy had put way too much effort into wooing me.

"He also didn't let us steal anything unless it had any correlation to your ex-boyfriends," said Adam.

"So the mint green frame?" I asked.

"One of your exes was in the picture with you. We knew it was a group shot, but it still counted as an ex-boyfriend item so we removed it from your office with haste," said Bradion.

Oh these boys.

"We have to ask Professor," said Mel, "When did you realize that you liked Professor Malfoy?"

I smiled. "I don't know if it's really appropriate for me to tell you that... you six are my students..."

"Oh come on Professor!" said Tim. "Have our relationships ever been appropriate? Professor Malfoy encouraged us to steal from you for Merlin's sake! I'm sure you can tell us a little love story seeing as how we've graduated and all. Especially since you aren't letting us drink."

I rolled my eyes, but complied. "Fine. It was after your stupid Valentines trick. Your dear Professor Malfoy here basically confessed that he had been in love with me for years and years, but I, being cautious, couldn't help but think that I was just some accomplishment he wanted to tick off on his checklist. He had been telling me all these lovely stories about his deluded idea of our former dates and after finally caving in and spending time with him, I realized that he was right. I did like him and I might even love him. I had spent so long trying to beat him that I had ceased to see him for who he really was and when I finally got the chance to this year, I realized I... er... that I really liked him."

"Oh Professor, just say it. You love him," said Bradion.

I rolled my eyes and let the graduates take the conversation.

On the walk back to the school, Scorpius and I hung back and let the six students walk ahead.

"I do love you, you know," I said.

He stopped walking and turned to face me. "I know," he said and his lips descended onto mine.

I had to admit, his stupid stories of our five false dates had gotten me in the end.

* * *

AN: Let me know your thoughts. Please don't be too cruel. X_X


End file.
